Apollo Tyres Ltd Q1 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Apollo Tyres Ltd (APOLLOTYRE) Q1 FY23 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• APOLLOTYRE said 1Q23 was again impacted by increase in RM prices. However, the company was able to recover the same in India, thereby helping it report sequential improvement in operating margins.

• The company said it took up to 8% price increase across categories in the replacement segment in 1Q23 and is taking further pricing actions in the current quarter as well.

• APOLLOTYRE expects the demand in India to remain sluggish in the near-term. However, the company expects the demand momentum to remain healthy in Europe. Margins are also expected to remain under pressure in the near-term.

Q&A Highlights:

• Siddharth asked about replacement demand, how much had been the volume growth across segments and overall for India. Gaurav Kumar CFO said that overall the volumes grew 21% and for the replacement segment the volume growth was 13%.

• Siddharth also enquired about the growth for 2H23 on a YoY basis in the replacement side.  Gaurav Kumar CFO answered that YonY the company would have booked growth, but given the seasonality impact and as there is some slowdown in PV segment on the OE side, there might be some decline in revenue from 2Q23.

• Siddharth asked about the growth breakdown for TBR, TBB and PV segment for 1Q23. Gaurav Kumar CFO replied that the two big growth segments, passenger car volumes were up 35% overall. Similarly, TBR growth was nearly 30%.

• Siddharth asked how the company looks at export growth in the next couple of years. Gaurav Kumar CFO clarified that the export growth will continue to be driven. Even in the current quarter in terms of volumes, it was the leader in volume growth.

• Nishit Jalan asked that in India business, how the company is seeing cost increases going ahead on the RM side given that there might be a lag in crude derivatives QonQ. Gaurav Kumar CFO replied that the company is expecting a small increase in the RM cost in 2Q23 over 1Q23 in low single digit. The expectation is that RM basket should be peaking out in 2Q23, then flattening out and then slowly starting to reduce.

• Nishit Jalan asked about the capacity utilization of TBR and PCR in India and Europe. Gaurav Kumar CFO answered that both for TBR and PCR in India it was around 85% in 1Q23 and in Europe the utilization was close to 90%.

• Amyn Pirani from J.P. Morgan asked about the current TBB and TBR ratio. Gaurav Kumar CFO said it’s almost two-third TBR and one-third TBB.

• Siddarth asked about the amount of price increases taken in 1Q23.  Gaurav Kumar CFO replied that in 1Q23, TBR price increase was up to 8%, while on some of the other categories it was 3-4% in India. In Europe, the price increase in passenger car segment was up to 9%.